The UKESF Scholar of the Year 2024 was announced at the TechWorks Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony in central London on 4 December.

Henry Wall, University of Cambridge / Multiple Access Communications Ltd, received the prestigious award of Scholar of the Year Award, and Philip Heptonstall, The University of Edinburgh / AMD was recognised as Runner Up.

L-R, Philip Heptonstall and Henry Wall with Stewart Edmondson, CEO, UKESF

The Award recognises UKESF Scholars achievements across several categories, including their academic achievements, their performance whilst undertaking their industry placement, and their commitment to outreach and promoting Electronics to young people. Both Henry and Philip performed outstandingly in all three categories.

Henry Wall, Winner, UKESF Scholar of the Year 2024

Henry is studying MEng Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Upon winning the Award, Henry said…

“I think winning the reward feels like a prize for all the dedication and hard work I have put into my engineering degree, outreach focuses and internships so far.

My Scholarship has enabled me to complete a very rewarding summer internship at MAC Ltd, working across disciplines and learning a plethora of knowledge I will use in my career going forwards. Furthermore, I think the UKESF Scholars Workshop provided was excellent, and certainly taught me about aspects of a career in engineering I hadn’t considered before. Adding to this, I made long lasting friends at the workshop, and cultured my network within this exciting industry.

I started out with a passion for cars and mechanical engineering, but focusing on the cutting edge of engineering at university I soon began to realise that our present and future is shaped by Electronics and semiconductors. It is such an interesting industry to be part of, with constant progression, new and exciting opportunities, and a hand-in-hand relationship with the forefront of our physics knowledge in quantum and nano technologies.”

Peter Gould, Managing Director, Multiple Access Communications Limited, congratulated Henry…

“Henry Wall was an intern with Multiple Access Communications Ltd (MAC Ltd) this summer as part of the UK Electronics Skills Foundation (UKESF) sponsorship scheme. We like to integrate our summer interns into our existing project teams and give them challenging engineering problems to solve so that they get real experience of what it is like to work in a company like MAC Ltd. Henry worked on a field programmable gate array (FPGA) deployment of a standard encryption library and gained valuable experience in networking protocols, C coding, Unix command line tools, Matlab modelling and the Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL). We were very impressed with the way Henry tackled the engineering challenges that we threw at him and what he achieved during his time with us! All of us at MAC Ltd would like to congratulate him on being awarded the UKESF Scholar of the Year.

We are very proud of you Henry and wish you every success in your final year of study at the University of Cambridge and your future career!”

Philip Heptonstall, Runner Up, Scholar of the Year 2024

Philip is studying MEng Electronics and Computer Science at The University of Edinburgh. On being recognised as Runner Up, Philip commented…

“To me, the award is a recognition of effort. It’s a sign that my contributions were recognised, and people believe they have a positive impact. It’s positive feedback that will encourage me to continue my efforts to develop my knowledge and to promote STEM.

The UKESF Scholarship has made a significant contribution to my career and degree. Starting out, I was put in touch with a graduate UKESF scholar whom I could ask for career advice, helping me navigate my options. My internships with AMD have provided me with opportunities to develop my technical knowledge and context of how these technologies were applied. I cannot understate the importance of context – going back to university after my internships, I found myself far more interested in courses that related to these technologies. Finally, UKESF has provided me with several opportunities to give back to the community in volunteering for STEM workshops and talks.

As an Electronics Engineer, I love that the topics you learn and work with so fundamental to modern life. Growing up with computers inspired me to choose my degree, and through it I have learned how all the pieces work and fit together to provide us with the experience we are all familiar with. The depth and complexity in every component fascinates me, and my interest in the topic is what led me to my current internship at AMD.”

L-R, Henry Sands-Grant (graduated Scholar), Stewart Edmondson (CEO, UKESF), Skye McConnville (graduated Scholar), Oana Lazar (graduated Scholar), Philip Heptonstall (Runner up – Scholar of the Year 2024), Henry Wall (Winner – Scholar of the Year 2024)

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